Chapter 34: Surgery
“Our escort is ready, Jasi,” Captain Rynard informed the group, “They didnt send vatfresh this time,”
Jasmine and the others looked out to the sizeable contingent marching their way, they counted sixteen soldiers in total, marching in disiplined unison. For a moment Jasmine thought she had recognised them from Nako’s ship, but then wondered if she would recognise them even if they were. While they were mostly free to wonder around the designated engineers wing, they couldn’t really travel too far without a wider military escort.
Even the Engine Lords quarters were off limit without escort.
“They really are Clones huh?” Beau commented, sixteen steel coated rangers stood at attention. Their power armor accentuated with a bright green battle cape draped over their right shoulders and armed with melta-guns held over their left shoulders for support. No other identifiers could be spotted, not even a serial number off an assembly line, they were completely identical to each other.
Rynard stood out front, and the rangers immediately recognised his authority. The old dinosaur had been very happy to sit back and relax while under Namegiver Jasmines command, she did not demand much of him at all. So when Jasmine did need his help, he was happy to oblige.
“(Triangle formation! Escort at the ready!)” Rynard bellowed, the rangers, silently, turned in unison, flanking out to a pyramid and then waiting for further instructions.
Everyone turned to Jasmine, she stood frozen unsure of how to proceed.
“I’ll be taking up the rear Jasi,” the captain told her, leaning in to guide her, “You walk in the middle of the formation, they’ll lead us to where were going,”
“Thanks!” she whispered back.
Before taking her first confident stride, Jasmine looked to her companions, Beau, Spades, Xant and Ryo would be following in her step. She laughed to herself, this might be the first time she lead a procession, but it probably wasnt going to be her last. Might as well get the practice in.
“Okay,” she smiled, “lets go,”
The Engine Lords quarters were as intimidating as the creature itself, the entire place was racks and racks of large chemicals stashes. Open vats bubbled with organ-tech were monitored by engineers, ever attentive like bees in a hive, monitoring and recording the ‘growth’.
Viitoic sat in the middle of it all, surrounded by holographic surfaces, teeth clacking together in a bemused but ultimately frustrated expression.
“Jasmine, You forgot to mention that there was an actual xenomorph on the station…” Beau said quietly under his breath, staring at the creature in disbelief.
“A true monster,” Ryo muttered in agreement.
As the Engine lord noticed their presence he loomed over the smaller crowd. The Rangers abruptly parted their protective formation, Ryo and Beau stepped back, exclaiming in their shock. Jasmine stood her ground, she didn’t want to give him another opportunity to be an asshole.
“Engine Lord, I believe Lieutenant Commander Nako has sent our request for assistance through?” she forced herself to be nonchalant, not wanting to let him overwhelm her own emotions.
Viitoic’s six arms spread out to increase his intimidating frame, while his dozen spiderlike legs gracefully climbed over the terminal controls to better inspect his visitors.
“Well,” Viitoic chuckled, revelling in the human’s reactions, “what a diverse range of phenotypes your species has, I couldn’t have imagined how distinctly they present from one another-”
“So you will help us then?” Jasmine interrupted, ignoring the chills down her spine when Viitoic spoke, “I would hate to have walked all this way only to be told you couldn’t help,”
Viitoic chittered his teeth at the suggestion.
“It is never a matter of ‘couldn’t’, Namegiver,” the Engine lord postured, taking the bait “I suppose I could afford the distraction,” he peered at the new humans curiously, no longer interested in scaring them so much as studying them, “The lieutenant sent me quite a few requests, which ones were you hoping to fulfil?”
“All of them if possible,” Jasmine replied firmly, regaining confidence in her approach, “Ryo’s medication and translator is the most urgent,”
“Ah yes a custom translator,” Viitoic slid slowly past them, like a fat scorpion on its way to its next meal, “The fabricators are this way…”
The fabricators were as complex as any of the humans expected, instead of wires and microchips it was vats and tubes of glass, intersected with an entire wall of different chemicals and solutions.
“A new custom-configured translator,” Viitoic repeated, gathering handheld equipment, “such things only come once a dynasty, shall we begin the proceedings?” he asked brandishing terrifying-looking injection guns in Ryo’s direction.
“Exactly what do you think you’re going to do to me?” Ryo snapped defensively, almost instinctively stepping behind Beau.
“I’ll need to do a full scan of you of course, how else are we going to find the specifications to suit your needs?” Viitoic replied with glee, Xant stepped forward, cutting off Viitoic’s path with a dataslate in hand and an unimpressed scoul.
“We won’t need to start entirely from scratch,” the good doctor insisted, “I have the dimensions of Jasmine’s translator, it will be a refitting and a calibration, nothing more extensive than that.”
Viitoic growled disappointed, his tentacle snatching the dataslate from Xants hands,
“I’m sure there could be room for improvement.” He muttered, “prototypes always need improvements…” The tentacle hovered over the fabricator vat, finding the right slot to insert the dataslate in. The dataslate made a satisfying ‘click’ and almost immediately the plans for the translator appeared before them in a hologram.
As Viitoic and Xant examined the alien organ onscreen, Jasmine realised one advantage alien tech had over humans. The dataslate fit perfectly into a ‘fabricator’ and instantly loaded up the exact plans they needed, they seemed to work together seamlessly, what it lost in function they made up for in compatibility.
“Oh very clever,” Viitoic complimented, “You’ve sliced both Zenthi and Princess grade Arvas translator sets together to withstand the frequency in/output.”
“That would be Doctor Yusa’s work, I am simply the mediator,” Xant replied humbly.
“It shouldn’t take too long to grow,” Viitoic said, placing the orders for the machine to do its work, “you said you needed an external medication? Is this a regular aplication?”
“It will need to be taken every 24[hours],” Jasmine confirmed,
“Then I can add it to the translators functionality,” Viitoic replied off handedly “cut down on the inefficiencies of your physical template,”
“We will need this,” Xant held out a small scrap of paper, “a variant of the chemical compound,”
Viitoic chatted his teeth together, drawing up the frame work for the chemical string but leaving the actual chemical compounds blank in.
“Without you telling me the chemical combinations I might as well be staring at Umin’gi scratchings,”
Xant rather sheepishly turned to Ryo, who begrudgingly stepped forward naming the common names of the compound structure. Viitoic looked closer at the compound and then let out a shrill laugh, making everyone step back.
“Oh how curious,” he smiled sadistically, “I currently have almost 200,000 [litres] waiting to be administered into ‘The Defender’, how curious that your species would need to manufacture such a chemical, I was under the impression you tinkered with artificial tech,” the sneer on the word ‘artificial’ was clear and direct.
Xant’s ears flattened while Jasmine and Ryo looked to each other and had to ask the question.
“The Defender? Is that a ship?!”
“Yes, the Knight Commanders Dreadnaught in fact.” Viitoic’s large pulsing head turned to the side, “Why would you need industrial-grade Shipbrain fluid?”
Jasmine could barely believe the words coming out of her mouth, the scale of their biotech was mind boggling, “Our brains produce industrial freq… ” .
“Yes…” Xant followed her lead, Stepping in to allow Jasmine to recover from the small realsiation, “to prevent the industrial freq Ryo’s brain produces from clashing with his conscious thought. The human species has not been optimised-”
“-Not yet,” Viitoic licked his teeth, “I can only imagine the possibilities of a truely optimised humanity, it is all very interesting…” the conversation was cut short once Viitoic had finished inputting the new addition to Ryos translator, he wouldnt need to ‘take’ a prescribed dose, but rather have the translator itself produce it naturally, like adrenaline or insulin.
“There, any other altercations before we being the growing process?”
There was an exchange of looks.
“No,” Jasmine replied, “that is everything,”
“Excellent,”
Viitoic reached for more chemicals, and the humans watched him work first hand.
The fabricator started with a singular cell structure, multiplying at an insane rate, while the engine lord feed the growing structure with various proteins and ph stabiliers. Adjusting the tanks ambiotic fluid as the stem cell structures gave way to clumps of organ tissue and nerve endings. It began to take on the more familiar shape mere minutes after they had started, long red tendrils twitched and spasmined as Viitoic injected the last chemical directly into the organ, stabilizing its growth. Finally the vat flushed the tank with fresh fluid as the fabricator ‘pinged’ after completion.
The engine lord presented the organ to the humans with pride.
“Well,” Jasmine gulped, “that was horrifying,”
“Afraid of what you don't understand? Most fledgling species are...” Viitoic chuckled.
“Oh no… I understood.” Jasmine whispered, unable too look away. Ryo and Beau both stared at the vat, the organ floating freely, moving in its fluid.
“I want to be unconscious for the surgery,” Ryo swiftly informed Xant, who nodded understandingly.
“We can absolutely put you out for the surgery, but,” the doctor lowered his head sadly, “you will need to be awake for the calibration,”
Ryo have a short “tsk”, but ultimately acceded.
“Fine…”
“I will make it as as quick and uninvasive as possible, your comfort will be my priority” Xant reassured the troubled human.
“Did the good doctor imply that he will be doing such delicate surgery?” Viitoic inquired.
“Dr Xant has experience with Humans, translators and otherwise,” Jasmine stated, “and seniority takes precedence does it not?”
Viitoic did not like having to concede to her logic, no matter how correct it was.
“I shall stay to observe, should the citizen doctor find himself out of his depth…”
“I wouldn't advise that,” Xant informed Viitoic, “Human freq can be very unstable, I recommend that you and your engineers vacate to a safe distance-”
“My engineers can leave but I shall be staying,” Viitoic insisted, “it is MY domain,”
Ryo turned his back on Viitoic and stated quietly to Xant.
“I want it done fast, get us away from that thing,”
Xant nodded in return.
“Of course,”
“Hey,” Jasmine stood on the other side of the table, “we’ll be here the entire time,”
Beau rested a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
“You know I wont let anything happen to ya,” Beau replied, and leant in with a whisper “and I’ll let loose if they try,”
That garnered an understanding nod from the teenager, he knew the man meant it.
Ryo laid down, closing his eyes.
“Count backwards from 10,” Jasmine instructed.
“10, 9, 8, 7-”
-*-
Ryo woke up suddenly in a very familiar and unwelcome position.
His body, numb upon a steel table, looking up at an alien ceiling unable to move. Panic began to set in immediately, if not for a warm hand holding his.
“Hey, its okay,” Jasmines voice was calm, caring squeezing his hand tighter.
“Is it done?” he asked, thankful his skull was still attached.
“Not yet,” she said softly, “We can’t calibrate it properly without triggering an episode,”
Ryo cursed, he tried to move but, his body was completely paralysed.
Panic began to set it, trauma from the previous exact scenario set his brain into flight mode.
“I want off this table, I don’t care about the translator I cant go through this again,”
Jasmine nodded her head, turning to Xant.
“Xant, give him the stimulant, we can try this a different time,”
Xant was hesitant,
“But calibrating it would insure it never happens again-”
“I WANT OFF THIS FUCKING TABLE NOW!!” a blast of cold, sharp freq struck everyone in the vicinity. It felt like being stabbed by glass shards,
Jasmine snapped at Xant, a frustrated command.
“Give him the stims and get him upright!”
Xant couldnt ignore the request, he reached for the stimulant to get the humans body moving again while Ryo’s translator let off increasingly dangerous freq pulses.
‘I WANT OUT GET ME OUT! I DON’T WANT THIS, MAKE IT STOP!” and as Ryo became more desperate, Xant could feel them returning…
A black bug skittered across his gloved hand.
Xant snatched up the chemical calibrator, tuning the input of the organ to filter out the unwanted signals. The Industrial freq was overwhelming Ryo’s entire brain, flooding his consciousness with debilitating hallucinations, and the translator was projecting it all out into the open.
Then there was a horrific, shrill cry.
“Infestation!” Viitoic began thrashing about as fast as his lumbering frame would allow, “infestation! contamination! I’ve been compromised!!” He was hysteric, arms and teeth bared he dived for the source of the hallucinations. Rynard intercepted the Engine Lord, tackling him to the ground, and restraining all six of his arms.
“Hurry up doc!” The captain shouted, “I cant hold him without damaging him!”
“I’ve almost got it!” Xant screamed in reply, using all his concentration to complete the calibration, “I just need a little more time!”
Jasmine closed her eyes squeezed Ryo’s hand tighter, and began humming, trying to recall a strong, happy memory.
Soon, the dark shadows of his psychosis began to fade, making way for the bright sunshine.
A never-ending blue sky and a white powdered beach…
There was no one else, just sky, sand and surf…
A cool wind blew on his face, he could feel the warm sand under his fingertips...
It was nice...Xant calculated the last freq block on the translator, the black bugs, the shadow and the ever-present cloud of dread faded into nothing. He practically tossed aside the device once it was done, then gently administered the stims allowing Ryo’s body to move once again.
“Jasmine, you can release him.” the doctor said softly.
She slowly unclenched her hands around Ryo’s, as soon as his body began to move, Ryo sat up as fast as he was able.
His head was silent, no voices, no shadows, no dread..
The nightmare was over.
-*-
Chapter 35: Suiting Up
Beau stood and watched the events unfold before him.
He felt himself detach as the organ grew inside the tank like he was a spectator on the set of some horror movie.
Unable to influence anything, he could scream and shout but they couldn’t understand him, you can’t reason with something that cant understand you.
He’d been there one too many times in his life.
He stood by as aliens conducted surgery.
Ryo, even after all they had been through together should have hated the aliens more than himself, yet here he was letting them do god knows what to his brain again.
It was the same as the other lab.
Rows and rows of vats and tanks holding all manner of monstrosities yet treated as mundane.
Beau stood outside them all, deaf to the subtleties of conversation.
Why would all of this suddenly be okay? He cracked his knuckles, holding clenched fists as he watched, Life held no sanctity in these halls, how could it when they could manipulate it so easily? If this was a way of life, what was abhorrent to them? What was the line they wouldn't cross?
The old adage of keeping your friends close but your enemies closer was beginning to ring true in his head.
Ryo and Jasmine both, no matter how many times he would ask a question he wouldn’t be getting a straight answer from either of them, he couldn't interpret how the aliens answered to him. Second-hand information got people killed, he couldn’t be in the dark anymore.
But fuck getting an alien squid in his brain.
If these monsters could build a spaceship, they could figure out an external translator.
“Hey,” Jasmine’s hand waved in front of his face, looking up at him through concerned eyes, “You okay Beau?”
He smiled.
“Just lost in thought is all…” He replied, then noticing the scene around him, perhaps he had gotten a little too lost in thought. He unclenched his hands, and then centred his attention on Ryo, “did the surgery go alright?”
Jasmine nodded her head,
“Well, there was a little bit of a hiccup, but were all done now,”
Beau walked up to Ryo, who sat at the end of the steel table with a blank look on his face.
For all their time together, he’d never seen Ryo not focused to the point of irritation, the teenage scowl was nowhere to be found.
It unnerved him.
“Hey, Ryo.” Beau approached him, studying his movements, “how you doing kid?”
Ryo blinked back into consciousness and gave Beau a slow thumbs up.
“Good,” came the relieved sigh, and a tap on the side of his head, “all quiet now, no shadow,”
Beau tried to smile back, and he prayed that it was just the language barrier.
“You still you?” Beau asked a little quieter.
Ryo gave Beau his smug smirk.
“Homerun,” the kid replied.Beau shook his head with relief and patted his shoulder.
He pushed the horrible thoughts back down but reaffirmed his decision.
He was going to get a translator from them one way or another.
Viitoic still struggled against the Captain, even after the mysterious infestation had vanished as quickly as it had materialised.
Jasmine’s voice commanded his attention.
“Its over,” She said firmly yet sincere, “they can’t hurt you,”
The engine lord blinked all six of his black eyes bewildered and enraged.
“Its over?!” he shrieked indignantly, “how can it be over when its only just begun??! Phenomenons do not just vanish once enacted! My senses were invaded and violated!-”
“That’s enough,” she silenced him, a blue-eyed stare waiting for him to hold his tongue, and when he did not dare interrupt her, she explained, “it is an unfortunate condition, but it will not interfere with my companion or your people any longer,”
“A condition…” Viitoic growled, “you knew of this disturbing errant?”
“I knew of it,” Jasmine cut him off, “It is a human condition suffered alone in the silence of our own skulls. It was the translator that brought it forth out into the open, and without proper care, the translator exacerbated its effects. Thankfully, it is under control now, so there is no need to fret or wail, if proper care had been taken when my companions were first discovered,” she shot Viitoic a dirty glare, “then none of this disturbance would have transpired,”
Viitoic snorted, Rynard squeezed the engine lord for good measure.
“You are learning quickly namegiver…” Viitoic admitted, “but it was not I who conducted such foolishness.”
“Maybe not, but I expected an Engine Lord to hold himself to better conduct,” she looked to either side of her, “neither my Captain nor Dr Xant are acting as shrill as you did, if it were you conducting the surgery I doubt my companion’s condition would be as stable,”
That caught Viitoic off guard, and genuine shock smacked in his face.
The citizen model did endure the phenomenon without panicking, the citizen should have been stiffed. The amount of Freq being thrown around the room was ghastly, too many different types caused ugly cross-contamination.
He rattled his teeth in thought.
“Obviously it is an occurrence that will need to be further studied…” Viiotic muttered weakly, “especially its effects on more, intellectual models.”
“Perhaps,” Jasmine answered curtly, “but only after negotiations with the council,”
Viitoic hissed but conceded the point.
“After negotiations,” he repeated, making a mental note of his growing list of experiments.
“We have other requirements,” Jasmine continued, “Lieutenant Nako said you would be able to provide us with power armour-”
“Tsk!” Viitoic snapped, “next thing I’ll know he would have told you a warship was available,”
“Not yet,” Jasmine quipped, “I believe Ryo was the one he was negotiating with,” she threw a thumb over her shoulder at the recently surgically enhanced human, the young man looked up over at Viitoic and he felt his skin crawl.
The Engine lord snapped his teeth,
“I suppose some armour is not a steep courting gift,” he muttered under his breath, “shall I bring up the lieutenants request?”
“Please do,” She replied,
Jasmine turned to Beau, returning to her far more casual way of speaking.
“He says he’ll work on our armour now, mine’s first then we can ask him to make up something for you and Ryo,”
Beau shook his head,
“Didn’t sound much like you were asking,” he observed, Jasmine scratched the back of her head.
“Yeah, well, the Engine Lord’s a bit of an asshole,” she replied, “I don’t think it’s personal though, you just have to act like you own the joint,”
“in charge vibes, I get it,” Beau answered, “so where’s the armoury?”
Jasmine shook her head.
“It’s here,”
“Here? But I thought this was the lab?”
“It’s both,” she replied, the Engine lord had been fiddling away at the machine, before another image appeared within the holoscreen, a suit of power armour that looked extremely familiar to the old soldier.
“I’ve seen that suit before,” he stated with a disapproving tone.
“Oh? Really?”
“Yeah, bastard stabbed me,”
“Ugh,” Jasmine commiserated, “if it helps,” she looked down at her waist, “I don’t think I could wear it and still breath. Engine lord, could I make some changes?”
The monster snarled and clicked, its language full of hisses and long, drawn-out vowels, but the woman understood him perfectly.
“I have a reference,” she replied and turned back to Beau, “The game case?”
He slowly handed it over, a small part of him excited at the prospect of real, power armour. There had to be a positive side to this whole alien abduction thing, somewhere down the line.
Jasmine passed the graphic over to the alien, who was confused by its presence.
“No, the data is on the disk but it’s a ‘game’, not a direct specs file,”
The engine lord let out a defeated hiss.
“I know, I know, but, you can make it look a little bit similar, right? You’re an Engine lord?”
The beast snorted, as though incensed by the challenge and began manipulating the image in light space.
Soon, the armour began to take on a more human-like image, with Jasmine directing the last few flourishes, making it sleeker than the original design.
“Yeah,” she announced at the end, hands-on-hips proud, “I’m happy with that,”
What followed was, to Beau’s complete surprise, an almost exact repetition of the translator organ growth, except this time, it was an entire suit of power armour.
Well, not quite.
It wasn’t the complete suit, rather, the organic inlay, a flayed skin to be cased in steel.
“So, it really is honest to god organic tech.”
“Yeah,” Jasmine replied, “it’s pretty creepy overall,”
“Them spikes look nasty…”
Jasmine peered in for a closer look, the silent, smaller alien that followed jasmine everywhere made a low growl and its ears flickered.
“Xant says its to connect to our own nervous system, in order for it to function,”
Beau raised an eyebrow.
“So, it will be directly, connected, to us?”
“Yeah,” Jasmine gulped, Dr Xant moved to get beaus attention, showing him the puncture points in the alien’s orca like skin.
“So, the suits of armour are made from the same materials as the translator?”
“I guess so?” Jasmine responded.“And the suits are connected to your nerves to work, right?”
“Yes,” Jasmine started to see his train of thought.
“What’s to stop them from putting a translator into the suit itself?” he looked back at her.
“That way I can communicate with you all without having to have a squid in my brain,”
“Beau you’re fucking brilliant!” Jasmine exclaimed.
She immediately turned to the engine lord and full-on demanded a translator be put into the next suit.
The monster growled in protest but Jasmine was not having it, a mixture of excitement and daring.
“I don’t want to hear it!” she snapped back, “it wouldn’t be hard at all!” she turned back to beau asking quickly “you want any changes to the suit?”
“As is on the cover, plus the translator, made to fit.”
“Right got it!”
Beau watched as yet another eldritch horror was created inside a vat, a goopy mess of blue tissue and veins. He couldn’t see how such a thing could be made into armour, and he was having second thoughts about wearing it.
Three sets of Mjolnir armour stood before the humans, unrecognisable from the organic forms, steel alloy coated the outside and plush, black leather-lined the inside.
If he was being honest the 18-year-old inside him was hollering loudly for him to try it on.
He was wary of the spike holes though.
“I don’t see ‘em,” he noticed, running his thumb down the inlay.
“Xant says they activate when you step inside, the button is on the collar,”
Jasmine looked between her counterparts.
“Who wants to try it on first?”
There was a great pause between the three of them, the very human response to let others go first even when they all really wanted to wear armour.
“I mean, I’ve worn citizen armour,” Jasmine elaborated “so I kinda already know how it feels,
“I had surgery,” Ryo said blankly “I should wait,”
Beau bit the side of his lip,
“Alright, alright, I’ll go first, let you know it’s safe,” he chuckled, but not entirely sure what to expect.
Jasmine relayed the procedure step by step for him.
Slide into the suit
Touch the button with your chin
Brace for the needles.
“It’s okay,” he muttered hyping himself up, “it will be just a shot, like at the doc’s, ain’t nothing to worry about…”
The leather was cold, and the suit itself fit him so tightly there was barely any room to move.
‘Just tap your chin and hold on’ he thought to himself, closing his eyes and tapping the colour with his chin.
He was expecting the needles.
He wasn’t expecting where.
The first two shot up into his heels and he shrieked.
“What in the tapdancing christ?!-” he screamed in anger, “what kind of psychopath stick’s them in the goddamn feet?!-” the rest of his rant was cut off by the suit continuing process.
The back of the knees,
The tail bone,
All up the spine
in the soft centre of his elbows and the palms of his hands.
The pain overshadowed by the fury, he had been tricked, swindled, and by gods righteous fury he was going to rip the Engine Lord in two when this was all said and done!
He shuddered in shock and the suddenly, sweet, sweet relief flowed through his entire body.
The cold leather became warm and the suit moulded to him.
It was light, strong, he could feel the shifting of the air through the steel and the tips of his fingers.
The pain was gone and in its place power.
He flexed his fingers, slowly, he became aware of another sensation, a bright, warm light.
‘He’s starting to feel it,’ Ryo’s voice echoed in his head and down his spine.
“Feel what?” Beau asked out loud and Jasmine smiled widely, the light became stronger.
“We call it ‘Frequency’, or Freq for short,” a deep soothing voice spoke to him, and suddenly Beau felt as though he were standing in a great river, “I must admire your tenacity, an external translator within military regalia, I dare say a brilliant if an unorthodox solution to the human problem,”
Beau blinked, staring at Dr Xant, then at Jasmine.
“Oh,” he breathed “I get it now…”
“Deep breaths Sargent Beau,” Xant instructed, “your own physiology will be with reacting to the translator, you will need to adjust,”
Beau looked at his fingers once more, folding them in and out of his palm as his own aura emerged. It was a deep amber glow, a thick mist of memories, tough leather, dull steel, patience, Spades fur and cool ale. It was as though there was a weight he carried, that hung on his every step, but it was not unwelcome.
“Huh,” Beau uttered, “y’all forgiven,” he replied, “this thing come with a helmet?”
“A set of regalia would not be complete without,” the snide arrogance permeated from the Engine Lord, “I await your acknowledgements,” he chuckled.
“I’ll give it to ya,” Beau nodded, “you may be one ugly motherfucker, but this is tight,”
Viitoic clicked his tongue, confused for the moment, but understood the sentiment.“Well then Namegiver, do you require my assistance further? Or may I return to the overwhelmingly important duties you have pulled me from?”
“You have been sardonically cooperative Engine Lord, but we have everything we require, so we shall take our leave,”
Rynard picked up the remaining two suits, while Jasmine waved at the Engine Lord.
“Thank you! Live long and prosper!” she laughed teasingly.
Viitoic couldn’t help but bob his head in return,
“May the universe give you what you deserve,” he chuckled back.
As the humans vacated with their escorts from Viitoics labs he once again held dominion. His engineers began coming out of their hiding places, many still jittering from the errant visions.
They stood and waited for their Engine Lords orders.
The large-headed chimera tapped his tooth plate together.
“Pull me a ship’s brain from any of the veteran fighter ships,” he purred to himself, “I want to see how much Industrial freq we can produce before the signals become unstable…”
-*-